


void

by jayeinacross



Series: comic drabbles [8]
Category: Marvel (Movies), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-05
Updated: 2012-10-05
Packaged: 2017-11-15 16:11:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/529102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayeinacross/pseuds/jayeinacross
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik (Magneto, Emma reminds herself, but all of his little friends think of him as Erik) never takes the helmet off when there are telepaths around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	void

**Author's Note:**

> For the comicdrabbles comm prompt 'bond'.

Erik (Magneto, Emma reminds herself, but all of his little friends think of him as Erik) never takes the helmet off when there are telepaths around. He keeps his mind closed off from everyone, and his expressions guarded; his face never gives anything away, and Emma has no idea what he’s thinking.

The first time is an accident; Erik doesn’t realize that Emma’s within range when he takes the helmet off, and she doesn’t mean to pry. She’s only let in for a second, before Erik realizes that she’s back, but he’s practically broadcasting his thoughts, which are all focussed around one name.

Charles.

Curiosity is dangerous, Emma knows, and she’s not sure that she really wants to hear what goes on inside Erik Lehnsherr’s head – but for the brief moment she was in there, she felt something strange, something unfamiliar, and she wants to know what it is.

The opportunity doesn’t arise for a while, but one day, Erik is upstairs resting, and the helmet must slip a little, because suddenly the thoughts are trickling out, faster and faster every second. Halfway between consciousness and sleep, he’s broadcasting unintentionally again, his mind screaming out for one person.

Charles!

Emma pushes tentatively into Erik’s mind, wary of any safeguards that Erik might have in place, but there are none. And she soon realizes why.

She hadn’t recognized what that strange thing in Erik’s mind was the first time, because she’s never seen anything like it. It’s an empty space. A void, something that longs to be filled, and Erik’s mind must be constantly yearning for it. For Charles, because he’s still calling out for him, over and over again, and in that helmet, it must be a constant echo.

Charles, Charles, Charles...

This is why Erik has no mental safeguards. He’s never needed them. The only telepath he’s known before Emma is Charles, and he let him into his mind completely. He has given all of himself to Charles, their minds have bonded, but Erik forced Charles out of his mind when he put on Shaw’s helmet, leaving a literal hole where the telepath had been.

Emma can’t imagine what it must be like to connect so intimately with someone like that, to let them into everything you are, and then have it all ripped away.

Charles.

The next time the Brotherhood comes across the so-called X-Men, Emma notices Erik slipping. His eyes and his mouth give away his guilt, his pain at seeing Charles in that chair. What has happened has made Charles more cautious, less open, but Emma can still feel the loneliness practically radiating off him. He keeps Emma out, but she can still hear his mind crying out for Erik too.

There will always be a gap in their minds, where the other should be, where they belong. But this rift between them was opened the moment Erik put that helmet on, and has only grown wider since, and nothing may be able to close it.


End file.
